1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a polymer composite comprising a hydrophilic polymer membrane provided on a base material, the polymer composite being used exposed to water or a water-based solvent, and uses of the polymer composite.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Polymer composites, which have a hydrophilic polymer membrane provided on a base material and find use as exposed to water or a water-based solvent, have hitherto been used as components of biosensors (see Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 09-127041). Among them are polymer composites which are produced by coating an aqueous solution of a mixture of a compound derived from a polyvinyl acetate saponification product, glutaraldehyde as a thermal crosslinking agent, and a physiologically active substance on a base material, and crosslinking these materials by heat. If such polymer composites use the physiologically active substance which does not accept high temperatures, they pose a process-related problem that crosslinking needs to be performed at a low temperature over a long period of time of the order of 24 hours.
A polymer composite, which has a polymer membrane comprising a PVA-SBQ (polyvinyl alcohol having a stilbazolium group) solution photo-crosslinked on a substrate, is known for use in a biosensor (see Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 07-113773). However, this polymer composite involves the problem that when it is exposed to water or a water-based solvent, the polymer membrane peels off the substrate in a short time, or the polymer membrane collapses because of cracks, etc. The same problem is true of the polymer composite which uses a photo-crosslinking agent as described in the aforementioned Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 09-127041.
On the other hand, a base material for cell culture is used exposed to a water-based solvent. A known cell culture base material has a polymer pattern carried on a base material, the polymer pattern comprising a polymer precipitated by using, as templates, water droplets which have gathered on the surface of a solution during evaporation of an organic solvent from a solution of a hydrophobic polymer in the organic solvent under high humidity conditions (see Polymer Processing, Vol. 50, No. 1 (2001), P. 10-15). However, this polymer pattern is hydrophobic, and thus cannot suppress the nonspecific adsorption of an adhesive protein. As a result, the problem arises that cells other than the desired cells adhere to the polymer pattern, rendering a precision culture impossible.